Twins
by Bracket the Indecie
Summary: Gabriel is tired of being mistaken for his mad twin brother. He goes to find Chandra to resume testing for 'powers' but encounters a changing Mohinder bent on revenge, and has a less-than-pleasent brotherly reunion. Obviously AU.
1. Chapter 1

Gabriel fumed. He rarely felt angry, he was naturally far too placid for ire, but everything that had befallen him the past while had made him bubble with ill-feeling. It started, just as it usually did with his brother walking out, going off 'travelling' or whatever it was that he did. He only ever came back to get his watch repaired and to leech money from his (only just) little brother. He looked around in despair at the remains of his once perfect little shop. The glass in the front had been shattered, it was now hastily boarded up, the glass cabinets smashed, countless timepieces destroyed, his workbench in tatters, his magnifying glasses and other lenses for the most delicate of repairs were crushed and useless. There was only two consolations for the poor man; firstly was the cheque made out to him for all the damage caused, and the second was, miraculously, his old 1917 timepiece, the one he had been working on for years, had somehow survived the melee unharmed, not even a scratch.

His life had been turned royally on its head when his mother was murdered. He wasn't the one to discover her body, but he heard how she'd been stabbed by a pair of scissors and there was blood everywhere. He wasn't going to pretend that he had much contact or love for her, as they hadn't spoken in some years, but she had still carried him in her womb for nine months and raised him. The shop shut for a week while he sorted out her will, money and things and could get himself together enough again to restart the delicate work that was his trade. The Monday morning that he re-opened, only half an hour after he switched the sign on the front door to 'open', a massive SWAT team had come crashing and smashing through his shop in a rather over zealous arrest of the poor watchmaker. He was beaten, shoved unceremoniously into the back of a truck and taken to a very secure, and probably underground holding cell where he was harshly interrogated for hours. They threw pictures at him, scenes of deplorable violence, in which there was blood everywhere, the tops of heads sawn off and brains, sickeningly, missing. They tried to get him to admit that he had perpetrated all these abominable crimes, topping it off with the stinging accusation that he had murdered his own mother. Gabriel had, in a mixture of anger and terror, rebutted every charge, and was able to provide proof that he was at a watchmaker's convention the night of his mother's murder. They were forced to let him go, apologising, saying their witness saw 'him' leaving the apartment on the day Virginia Grey was slaughtered. They gave him reparations payment for the damage caused to his shop, an insincere apology and a lift back home, acting as though it would make up for the trauma Gabriel had just been through.

As if that wasn't enough, he was still plagued by the thought of that Indian doctor who had waltzed into his shop, told him he was very special, given him a copy of his book and left. Gabriel had read it studiously, was intrigued by his theories, and gave him a call. They met up a few times, but they could find nothing that was so 'special' about him. They determined to meet up again, but Chandra was not there, and never returned his calls. At first he was upset, thinking that he had somehow offended the doctor, then got angry at how he might have been simply ditched for not displaying abilities so quickly. The next guy on his list – Brian Davies? - lit up Chandra's eyes far more than Gabriel did towards the end of the tests. He at least would have liked a call telling him that he was going to stop testing the watchmaker. Only polite. He resolved he would go to Chandra's flat and try to catch him; to at least see if he was having some more success with other subjects.

Meekly, he knocked on the door, wondering if this was really such a good idea, maybe he was busy? Maybe he wasn't in? Too late to go back, he had already knocked. The door was answered by an Indian man, not the older doctor as Gabriel had expected, but a much younger man, who was in an unseasonably long-sleeved jumper and scratching his shoulder

"Sorry, is Chandra Suresh still here?" He asked timidly; this new man didn't look too friendly. Instead of a brisk 'no' he expected, he was seized and thrown inside, into a table and he cried out in pain. He could feel the bruises already welling up and preparing to mar his skin.

"How dare you come here, dressed like that, and ask for my father!" He roared and slammed the door, leaping towards the groaning watchmaker.

"Sorry-" He tried, but was dragged up by immense strength.

"This time, I've got the power to put you down for good, you piece of scum." He growled, and punched Gabriel in the gut, he responded by howling in pain.

"You must have me confused with someone else." He whimpered through waves of pain.

"I don't think so – _Sylar_." He hissed and punched him in the face, sending him crashing to the ground.

"I'm not Sylar." He moaned, wondering what that cursed brother of his had done this time. He was sick of being mistaken for him.

"You can't pull that one over me. I'm going to make you pay for every life you've taken!" Mohinder roared. "Aren't you going to use your powers?" He challenged the man. Gabriel sat up, pained.

"I don't have any. Chandra didn't find any."

"No, you steal then from others like a parasite. I guess it doesn't matter." He smirked and lunged for the kill. His body leapt, scales on his back bristling through his jumper, only to stop suddenly mid-air, floating. He struggled, but could not move.

"Now, now, Mohinder." A dark voice teased. "I can't have you maiming my brother." Gabriel knew that voice. He picked himself up and looked to the door frame.

"What the hell have you done this time?!" Gabriel exploded without greeting his darker twin. "That's the umpteenth time I've been mistaken for you and gotten into serious trouble! What are you into?" He demanded, breath heavy with indignation.

"Oh Gods..." Mohinder gasped. "There's two of you." He closed his eyes, one Sylar was bad enough, but now two?

"No." Gabriel seethed through gritted teeth. "There's only one of him. What's it this time?" He demanded of his twin.

"I'm onto something much bigger than anything before, Gabriel." He said, almost spitting his brother's name. "Something far bigger than you." He sneered.

"What?!" Mohinder cried from aloft. "Ripping people's heads open and stealing their abilities?" He demanded to know of the darker man.

"No... You mean those pictures are what _you_ did?"

"Pictures? You mean someone showed you what I've been doing?" He asked, curiously.

"Yes. After SWAT came in and destroyed my shop to arrest YOU, they interrogated ME and showed me photographs of those people. You're sick, Sylar." He said. Sylar laughed a little, then burst into fits.

"They thought you were me? Oh that's rich!" he laughed a bit more, maybe too much, but it was to dig at his sibling. "How can they mistake us? You're so _insignificant_." He sneered.

"Even you need a watch to tell the time." He replied sullenly, as though it were an old answer-back that never quite worked. His eyes fell on his brother's still out-stretched arm. His face brightened. "You've still got the watch I made for you!" He said, his surprise betraying him, and a smile.

"Of course. Reminder of my big brother." Sylar cooed sardonically.

"It's broken." Gabriel looked crestfallen.

"No, it's just stopped at a special time." He said, voice like silk. Gabriel eyed him suspiciously, but said nothing.

"Are you going to let him down?" He asked, indicating to a still-suspended Mohinder.

"He's spent more time than this on a ceiling. He'll be fine for a little while yet before the blood rushing to his head causes him to blackout."

"Yes, but it's difficult to try and have a casual conversation without when there's a man hovering over me." He said. This tone still resonated enough with Sylar to make him pliable in conversation.

"Let's talk then, _brother._"


	2. Chapter 2

Sylar had gone over in graphic detail everything he was doing, the detail was just to upset Gabriel, who hated anything to do with violence, and had always vomited at even the worst-quality gore movies Sylar had made him watch when they were kids. The watchmaker often wished he had no twin brother, who had done naught but make him miserable. That wasn't true, he realised on a second consideration. He did a lot for him at school, he almost thought they had bonded there. Gabriel, with the glasses and neatly combed hair and quaint jumpers, looking like the geeky friend from the Wonder Years, had been the subject of much bullying and derisiveness from certain sections of the school. Once, he had been pinned up against the lockers and slapped about for his lunch money by a burly football player until Sylar had fearlessly punched him in the jaw, forcing a release and kicked him violently, telling that no one beats-up his brother. As he finished (teachers where running toward the sight of the gathering crowd) he whispered to his brother that only he was allowed to beat up the meeker sibling. He rarely did though, and Gabriel more than generously offered 'homework help'. He even didn't tell their mother about the magazines he found under his brother's bed, which would have led to serious disturbances if he had.

He was in a daze, trying to comprehend everything told to him. Everything about abilities, about what Sylar had been doing, about the killings, about the plots and the companies that wanted to use Specials for their own ends. The strangest thing for him though, was that it was the revelation that there were many people with powers out there, and their numbers were growing (discounting his brother's activities). It was not the murdering and the dissection that moved him so, but the fact there were others out there with superhuman abilities, and it fascinated him. Sylar's 'behaviour' had not really affected him as much as it should have; yes, he was shocked, but not so much. Perhaps he had always lived with the psycho side of Sylar for all those years as children that it simply seemed a natural progression. He checked himself at his own pessimism for his brother, he knew he should think better of his own kin, but he found too difficult, and he had not the energy for trying at the moment.

It had been mostly Sylar lecturing about his place in the world, how special he was (and went to great pains to point out how infinitely _more_ special he was in comparison to his brother) and all the things he had done to other people. The poor guy who obviously lived in the apartment, who was constantly struggling and snarling to try and escape Sylar's invisible grip, Gabriel felt a tremendous swell of emotion for him; his brother had murdered Mohinder's father and constantly seemed to taunt him about it whenever he came back to this place. Gabriel scowled from behind his glasses, hating his sibling for wreaking suffering and pain on others instead of trying to us his abilities to fix the world's problems, Sylar seemed intent on creating them. Gabriel's first instinct was to try and stop his brother's evil mechanations and do a bit of world-saving himself, but he dismissed the notion almost as soon as he thought it. As angry as he might get with Sylar, he could never stand up to him. For a start, he had all these amazing powers that could stop him from across the street, and secondly – it was his brother, he couldn't bring harm to his little brother, no matter what he had done. Gabriel had always the capacity to forgive anyone of anything, and had done more than his share of that when it came to Sylar, especially in their childhood.

"Mohinder." Sylar spoke condescendingly to the trapped man. "You've got friends from the Company?" He gestured to outside, where agents where obviously on their way, knowing, somehow that Sylar was there. "You of all people should know to stop giving me fodder. Honestly. Would you like to see how I do it?" He asked, a dark chuckle rising from his throat.

"You bastard..." Mohinder choked out, renewing his struggling, trying to eke out all of his recently-developed strength to worm out of Sylar's trap and to rip the face off the murdering son of a bitch. Gabriel stood up and backed away from Sylar as he knew his brother would actually make them watch him take abilities from a person's exposed brain.

"Come on, Gabriel, it'll just be like fixing a watch." He sneered.

"You vile..."

"I'm giving you an unheard-of opportunity here." Sylar suddenly turned dark again. "I've never let anyone else know how I do it, you should be grateful!" He growled. Gabriel stumbled a bit, on an unseen ornament that had fallen to the floor, and Sylar looked at him with contempt.

"I'm feeling feint..." Gabriel lied, and clutched the wall.

"My poor sickly weak brother." Sylar sneered humourlessly. "Get a glass of water before you really start to embarrass me." He snapped and Gabriel weakly made his way over to the kitchen area. He quickly fumbled with a glass and the tap, and Sylar turned his attention back to torturing Mohinder who looked as though he was about to burst with hatred. "I can hear two agents. Two men. They sound pretty scared – then again I would be going up against me." He said and waited for the wooden portal to open. All eyes were on the door, Sylar's face was a picture of excited anticipation, as though he was waiting to surprise Santa and steal all the toys in the sack. Mohinder was willing something to happen which made Sylar suddenly ripe for killing, or the agents to go away and not enter his apartment for slaughtering. Gabriel's eyes darted between his brother and the door, also wishing the murder not to happen. A strength and courage rose through him, accelerating his heartbeat, and he gingerly fingered the stone mortar and pestle on the side by the bread bin.

The agents must have been close, because Sylar's eyes darkened and his smirk turned into a grin, as he bristled with murder and power. Gabriel, as though seized by another power, gripped the heavy stones on his hand and brought it crashing down on his brother's head. Sylar crumpled, mainly in shock and momentary disorientation, releasing Mohinder, and Gabriel dropped the slightly bloody stones, stepping back in horror at what he had just done. This gave the scientist the time he needed to act, leaping forward at Sylar, who tried to fend him off, but his head was swimming far too much to use his abilities properly. Instead of controlling Mohinder, he choked his twin, who was appalled at how he had attacked his own brother so viciously. Gabriel's body rose a few inches in the air, he grasped for the invisible hand around his throat and longed for breath. Sylar's eyes burned mad, hot coals into his own, wrath at being denied a precious ability, and betrayal at his sibling's attack. Mohinder had recovered enough to pick up Sylar by his coat and haul him against the wall, smashing his jaw with a powerful right hook. Scales glinted in the slithers of sunlight creeping through the blinds, but unnoticed by Sylar who couldn't see straight, and Gabriel, who was seeing coloured spots in front of his eyes from the lack of oxygen.

Mohinder had Sylar by the scruff again, and was promising to murder and murderer when the agents burst in and Sylar struggled, only to be thrown out the window. Glass and splinters shattered and scattered out onto the street below, the thump of a body hitting the concrete giving the scientist a grim spasm of satisfaction.

"Doctor Suresh!" Cried one of the agents.

"He's down on the street, hurry up or you'll never catch him!" He baked at them, and they were off, running as fast as they could to try and bag and tag the infamous Sylar when he was (presumably) down.

Gabriel was gasping for breath on the floor of the kitchen and severely red in the face. His glasses had fallen off and he couldn't see very well – though he wasn't sure if that was because his lenses were missing or the oxygen hadn't quite recirculated around his brain yet. Mohinder helped the watchmaker up, handing him the glasses, and telling him that he had to get up so he could hide before the company agents returned. Gabriel didn't really understand what was going on, Mohinder's voice was distorted, like hearing a warped record through the wall in another room. Nevertheless, he grasped the frames thrust into his hands and consented to be towed into a cupboard in the back room.

"You mustn't make a sound until I come back for you, ok?" He heard and nodded blearily. He was tired. His head lolled to one side and he fell asleep against the bottom of a comfortable padded snow coat.

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TKCB: Bit longer than I anticipated, but it needed to all go in. Let me know if you are enjoying it so far please!


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